Watersday, 3/23/1033

Bibiki Bay - Purgonorgo Isle. Level 38. Defeats =2

Windurst is one of the closest cities to Bibiki Bay, so I made the long walk back there to refill my supplies for the next adventure. I grabbed a Chocobo from the Choco-gal at the Mea krag in Tahrongi Canyon to make the trip a little faster. When I arrived in Windurst, I noticed that some kind of festive event seemed to be in full swing. Oh! It's the Harvest Festival! Have I really been gone that long? While I had no plans to participate just yet, I made a note to try to return before the festival ended.

Coordinating my efforts with my cohorts and with the aid of my loyal Moogle, I managed to get a fresh supply of Pet Food Zeta as well as some food for myself. While fighting in Bibiki I noticed my damage was starting to get depressingly low. At times I was hitting for damage only in the teens or so. While I did not want to rip hate from my pet, I still would like to contribute more to the defeat of my enemies. So this time I picked up some Meat Mithkabobs, since Meat Jerky is finally a bit obsolete. Moreover, I changed my gear around to focus much more on Attack. I grabbed my Tiger Stole, Royal Squire's Mufflers and Beetle Earring +1s out of storage, and finally bought an overpriced but awesome pair of Republic Panties... err... a Republic Subligar, I mean. I also grabbed my Courage Rings from my Mog Safe to experiment with macroing them in for my Weapon Skills. I lost a lot of MP from switching out those two pieces of Savage armor, but I found that I usually don't use much MP per battle anyway. So with all that said, here is my current set of Fighting Gear.

Once ready, I ran up to the guards posted at the gate and used the last charge on my Empress Band. Then I asked the guard to recharge it, and got a fresh Signet to boot. Then it was time to hop back onto a chocobo and make my way back to... you guessed it: Bibiki Bay. But this time my plan was to take the Manaclipper out to the outer islands to take on some stronger enemies. I arrived at the all-too-familiar docks at Bibiki Bay and asked the Mithra dock workers when the next boat would arrive. They said it was still several hours away, so I passed the time by farming the Efts surrounding the docks, hoping for some Eft Skins and High Quality Eft Skins. I didn't get any, but I did get a few Lizard Eggs and some Fire Crystals. Finally the boat arrived, and I embarked on the voyage out to the Island.

The boat ride was pretty uneventful, and thankfully only a few hours long (about 5-10 Earth minutes?). On the ride a Mithra tour guide whose name I forgot talked about the sights along the way. The scenery really is quite nice if you take a moment to take it in. I had heard rumors of powerful monsters appearing during some ride, but during this trip I only saw an Easy Prey Fatty Pugil.

Purgonorgo Isle is a strange place. It reminds me a little bit of the Yuhtunga Jungle near Kazham, with several tunnels running around the island. Also, there are lots of Opo-opos running around, and I knew from several reports that they could be very difficult to Charm. There are also several beaches on the islands with various creatures, like Coralline Uragnites, Toucans, Alraunes, Viscous Clots, Jagils, and more Opo-opos. At first I was depressed because everything seemed to be either Easy Prey - Decent Challenge, or Tough. It was difficult at first to find appropriate pets. It readily became apparent that the toucans and the Alraunes (strange black Mandragoras) would be my primary targets and pets. Eventually, I found an Even Match Toucan, so I hit my Reraise Earring and started to get to work. I sent it after a Tough Alraune. Now, you have to understand that the last time I fought Mandragoras, it was in the Jungles in a party in the mid 20s (as a White Mage). Back then, the little onion men were... lets just say they were pretty weak. So imagine my surprise when this Alraune ripped my pet bird apart with ease! I even used a Pet Food Zeta Reward to try and extend the fight, but to no avail. When my pet fell, I desperately ate some Meat Mithkabob and used Raging Axe to try and finish it off. But it survived, and proceeded to pummel me with multi-attacks and counterattacks. There were no other appropriate pets nearby, so in desperation I used Call Beast and summoned a crab to help me out. But the crab was too weak and could not pull hate off of me fast enough. Near defeat, I had no choice but to spam healing spells to survive. But that only made it harder for my jug pet to get hate. Ultimately, I was defeated while the evil little onion had but a sliver of health left.

Live and learn, I guess. I made a note that the Alraunes were pretty tough tanks, reraised, and prepared to start anew. While recovering from Raise weakness, I noticed a duo of level 37 adventurers (a BST and WHM) fighting creatures in the area. I did not notice them before, and they were not on the boat when I came, so I guess they were there first. I didn't want to camp on anyone, so I mentally started going through alternate locations for me to go to in case the area was too small to support all three of us. Sea Serpent Grotto would probably be my best bet if I had to leave. Once I recovered, I observed the duo as I explored the island, and only experimented with a couple of fights to see if I could survive there at all. Those fights were close too, and I was just about to Warp (scroll) out when I noticed the duo cast teleport and vanish. I guess I had the area to myself, whether I liked it or not.

I ran around the island for a while trying to find an appropriate camp. It took a long time, but I found a decent area near the South East beach. One "room" had two Alraunes. The next one had 1-2 Alraunes, 2-3 Toucans, and 1-2 Jagils. and then the beach had 3 Toucans. Most of these enemies were Tough, but a few would spawn Even Match, and I tried to use those as pets. My strategy was to use Even Match Alraunes against Tough Toucans or Alraunes, and Even Match birds only against other birds (since the Alraunes seem to tear up the birds). Alraunes make good defensive tank pets, with both counter and monk-like multi attacks. Their TP moves are terrible though. Scream is particularly bad, and Dream Flower is almost completely useless for a pet. Wild Oats, Headbutt, Photosynthesis, and Leaf Dagger are decent though. The Toucans are much more aggressive pets, using the same TP moves as the Ravens back on the Bibiki mainland. The Jagils were usually only Decent Challenge, so I mostly ignored them but kept them in mind in case I needed an emergency pet. None of the enemies in my area were aggressive, but everything linked, even the Mandragoras. Still, it was usually pretty easy to avoid the links.

Soon, I started to get used to the area and started to make good experience. I tried to keep the Even Match enemies alive and used Leave strategically to reuse the same pets over and over. I tried to keep one Even Match pet in each of the 3 areas, and cycled between them to get decent chains. Having already been defeated once, I took it slow at first, but soon was regularly reaching chain #2 and chain #3, and occasionally hitting chain #4.

At this point, I am starting to notice far more mischarms than I am accustomed to. This turned out to be the biggest danger in the area, since a mischarm could easily result in links and death. For that reason, I avoided charming the Opo-opos like the plague; it just wasn't worth the risk. I think the Alraunes might be a little Charm resistant too.

I made a mistake with my pets in my nice little camp and accidentally killed off my Even Match pets. Annoyed I had to run around the island to try and find another appropriate pet. I ran all the way around and couldn't find a single Even Match! Worst, as I made my way back to my camp, I got agro from a really nasty, Tough Viscous Clot. I tried to Charm it. Failed. Tame. Failed. I made a run for my camp to get one of my emergency Jagils. The Clot hits really hard, likes to Double Attack, and occasionally procs a life drain when it hits. I try to Charm it again. Failed. Grrr. I made it to the Decent Challenge Jagil, successfully Charm it, and send it after the Clot. Whew, that was close! Or so I thought. I try to back off out of agro range for a trusty Divine Seal + Cure 2, but before I can take 2 steps the next thing I know I'm face down in the dirt, defeated! What happened?! Well, it turns out the Jagil couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and missed all of its attacks against the Clot. Worse, as I stepped away, the Viscous Clot double attacked me, and both hits were critical. Then, it Double Attacked me again, with another critical in there. It must have done 350+ damage to me in the span of 2-3 seconds. Stupid Clot. Someone should tell it that Double Attack is only supposed to go off like 10% of the time.

When I recovered, I went back to my camp and found that it was still full of Tough enemies. I decided to risk a few mischarms in order to use Leave to convert some of them to Even Match. I did get once mischarm, but luckily no links, and since good old Tame was back up and I was able to avoid too much damage. Soon I was back in business with about 4 good pets. Everything went smoothly from then. While fighting with my pet, my Axe skill soon capped and I switched to Scythe for the remainder of the level. Soon enough, I reached level 39, where this area becomes much easier to handle. At 39, some of the Alraunes and Toucans become Decent Challenge, but some are also still Tough. Experience is a little slower, but much safer since Decent Challenge pets are much easier to Charm if needed. Also, Decent Challenge Alraune pets still do very well even against a Tough Toucan. I fept using my Scythe during the buffer, and soon it reached Skill 100. Woohoo! I got a new Scythe Weapon Skill called Nightmare Scythe. It seems to be pretty cool, and I can see where Blindness might come in handy.

I made camp when I got my level 39 buffer. I fully intend to stay here until level 40. Then, I'll have to start farming up some cash as a lot of new gear opens up.